Rumors
Picts have been invading the kingdoms of the North since A.D. 504.
Picts and pagan Cymri from the North have been invading Cumbria since A.D. 507.

Background
In September of A.D. 507 (i.e., after the last Huntington Campaign adventure), the Saxon King Eosa of Sussex joins forces with the Jutes under Earl Cynfrith of Kent to lay seize to the City of London. In exchange of a promise of not being sacked, the city surrendered. The City Council, footsoldiers, and citizenry are now occupied by Saxons and Jutes under the direct rule of a vassal of Eosa known as Baron Gudrick.

Mini-Adventure
The mini-adventure is based upon a rumor from Banbury Fair (i.e., last game session):
“There is a handsome minstrel named Dygmon who tours taverns and town squares throughout Logres. He has the reputation of being a womanizer, and takes pride in his amorous conquests the way a knight takes pride in his jousting record. Now it seems he has gone too far. It is said that he started secretly meeting with none other than the Lady Synduil, the young teenage daughter of Earl Dafydd!”

Earl Dafydd told the PCs that he ordered Dygmon to stop seeing Synduil. He said he would, but still saw her. The earl then jailed Dygmon, but released him after Synduil started a hunger stike. The earl impresses upon the PCs the seriousness of this situation:

Synduil needs to eventually be free (and be a virgin) for an arranged marriage to serve for the benefit of the future of Huntington County.

No marriage with a common minstrel is possible or desirable.

If Dygmon gets her pregnant, she becomes “damaged goods” in terms of benefiting the county, and her future is likely ruined as well.

The Earl looked at the PCs with a very grave expression and told them to visit Dygmon and “…explain the matter to him. You’ve dealt with Saxon raiders and Regmar the Brigand King, so I have every confidence that you will be able to deal with a troublesome troubadour.”

The players decided to send two of the squires, Folkvar and Thelsadar to confront Dygmon. They found him in a tavern, whereupon he started spouting socialist jargon in the manner of Dennis the Peasant from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (i.e., “Oh, squire eh? Very nice. And how’d you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers, by hanging onto outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society”).

He even sang a song he penned, which went as follows:
“Born into nobility
is just luck with the human species.
You could have easily been born a farmer
and spend your life shoveling piggy feces.”

Folkvar & Thelsadar basically threatened his life, and Dygmon cowered, agreeing to journey to mainland Europe. Nevertheless, he complained about not having traveling money, and Folkvar gave him 10 s.

The Demon & the Rat Men
The following event took place with Sir Galien in the Estate of Seven Pines. In the middle of the night, Galien heard some strange noises within his shell keep and bailey. He armed himself and found the guard outside his treasure room in a state of enchanted daze. Within the chamber were two armed men wearing black cloaks, going through his stash. They indentified themselves as "treaure hunters (rather than common thieves) and told Galien to go back to bed, promising not to clean him completely out. When Galien refused to go, they warned that he would not want to be around “when Pazbach arrives.”

Galien decide to engage them in combat, wounding one. The “treasure hunters” then started undergoing a strange process of transformation. Galien killed one of them, but the other completed the transformation, appearing as a kind of rat man.

Moreover, a 7’ tall demonic looking figure appeared in the hall, having horns, fangs & gray feathered wings. For some reason, this creaure (evidently Pazbach), was also wearing the costume of a court jester. Galien’s sword was not able to harm either the rat man nor the creature.

Galien decided to back up down the hall in hope of fetching his silver-tipped spear. But a sulfruous cloud of smoke errupted in the treasure room, and the demon, rat man and body of the thief had vanished (along with 600 shillings from Galien’s treasure trove). On the floor near the place where the thief’s body was, Galien discovered a magic ring. Upon consultation with Theronde the Sage, he found out that the ring (the Ring of the Enchanted Eye) allows the wearer to see at night, or to see clearly things and areas at great distance.

Background
In September of A.D. 507 (i.e., after the last Huntington Campaign adventure), Saxon King Eosa of Sussex joined forces with the Jutes under Earl Cynfrith of Kent to lay seize to the City of London. In exchange of a promise of not being sacked, the city surrendered. The City Council, footsoldiers, and citizenry are now occupied by Saxons and Jutes under the direct rule of a vassal of Eosa known as Baron Gudrick.

The Battle of London (Summer of A.D. 508)
A coalition of Logres forces banded together to take back London.
• Earl Gilbert of Hertford (who has already lost a number of residents as war refugees), led an attack against Ludgate. After punching through, they secured St. Paul’s Cathedral, turning it into a stronghold and a house of healing for the wounded.
• Earl Dafydd of Huntington and his forces followed into Ludgate and attacked south-west sections of the city. The player-characters, along with their squires and two squads of footmen, were tasked with taking & holding Lud’s Castle (a.k.a., Baynard’s Castle).
• Countess Iblivere of Rydychan sent forces for the joint attack on the Postern Gate / White Tower.
• Baron Meilyr of Tribruit sent forces for the joint attack on the Postern Gate / White Tower.
• Baron Garmon of Brun sent forces for the joint attack on the Postern Gate / White Tower. Baron Garmon was considered the commander of this particular attack.
• Earl Macsen of Lonazep does not have a very big army. He augmented his troops with conscripts, and positioned his forces in the vicinity of Moorgate and Cripplegate, giving the appearance that these gates were threatened by attack. Nevertheless, the purpose of this force was to draw Saxon defenders away from Ludgate and Posterngate, as well as to protect the allies’ primary supply line from any attacks that might issue from within the city (the primary supply line extended northward along the King’s Highway that connects London with the City of Hertford.

Duke Ulfius of Silchester & Earl Robert of Salisbury led forces of mounted knights south of Thames River to intercept any reinforcements sent from the Saxon and Jute territories. They attacked and secured Southwerk, using it as an outpost. This also made the Saxons in the city think that Belin’s Gate was another likely place to be attacked, and consequently drew troops away from Lud’s Gate and Postern Gate to reinforce it.

Folkvar and Thelsadar each were given a squad of 10 footsoldiers to command. The following NPC squires were teamed up with the following player-characters:

Using their footmen to wield a battering ram, the player-characters burst through the gatehouse of Lud’s Castle and engaged the Saxon defenders in the fortification’s courtyard. The Saxon forces included mounted knights, a berserker, sergeants and footsoldiers.

At the end of the session, the forces of Huntington County were starting to show the advantage. Not only were a number of Saxon footmen slain or knocked unconscious, but they had also lost some of their key troops (i.e., a berserker, a knight and a sergeant). In terms of the forces from Huntington County, so far there were no losses (indeed, the footmen have been basically hanging out unthreatened in the gatehouse while the knights and squires wailed on the Saxons).

There was not enough time to complete the Battle for London on Dec. 11, 2015, so it was scheduled to resume during Huntington Campaign Session 15 on Jan. 8, 2016.